Author: Charles Hutchinson

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York printmaker Michelle Hughes publishes debut artbook Printing Birds And Wildlife In Linocut. Official launch to follow on April 15

York landscape artist, printmaker, workshop tutor and now author Michelle Hughes in her garden studio. Picture: Jackson Portraiture

YORK printmaker and workshop tutor Michelle Hughes’ debut art book, Printing Birds And Wildlife In Linocut, is published today by the Crowood Press.

“The slow boat from India must have sped up significantly as my publisher has emailed me to say it’s arrived at the distributors,” says a delighted Michelle, of St Swithin’s Walk, Holgate, York. “It’s all a bit of a surprise that it’s here because there’d been a delay.”

That delay led Michelle to decide to arrange the official launch for Wednesday, April 15 in the Harriet Room at York Cemetery, where doors will open at 6.30pm for the 7pm start. 

“It will be by invitation only due to space constraints,” says landscape artist Michelle, who makes limited-edition linocut prints inspired by the Yorkshire coast, Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and the Lake District and the wildlife observed from her garden studio.

“Partly because of the date, the launch will have an element of a ten-year celebration too to thank everyone who’s supported and been part of my journey as a printmaker since June 2016, when I launched my business. I’ll probably do a short talk and have examples of the prints and blocks. Plus, of course, I’ll be signing books.”

As of today, Printing Birds And Wildlife In Linocut is available from online retailers and bookshops. Alternatively, to order  the book for delivery or to pre-order signed copies to collect from Michelle’s studio, visit: https://www.michellehughesdesign.com/printing-birds-and-wildlife-in-linocut-book.

Michelle Hughes’s book cover artwork for Printing Birds And Wildlife In Linocut

“In August 2023, I was approached by the Crowood Press [independent publishers of specialist books at The Stable Block, Ramsbury, Marlborough] to write a book on making linocut prints,” she says. “It took me 20 months to write, make the linocut prints, photograph each step, edit it, and have friends proof-read it.

“As I went along, I laid it out in line with Crowood’s in-house style and formatted it as I wanted it to appear in the book, to understand how it would visually look to the reader. I’ve poured my heart and soul into it.” 

Last May, Michelle handed in her 42,000-word, 660-photograph manuscript and lay-out to the publishers. Several rounds of proof-reading and lay-out by a professional typesetter ensued, and now the 176-page book is not only published at £18.99 but has been selected as one of the top 25 books to have generated the most support for independent bookshops in the past month. 

“This beautiful book explains how to capture the joy of nature in the versatility of linocut,” says Michelle. “From a simple idea or sketch, it guides you through the process of planning designs, carving and then successfully printing your work.

“Projects with detailed step-by-step instructions further demonstrate the process with one-colour and jigsaw prints, before advancing to reduction and multi-block prints. All are shown with the most endearing images that capture the enchanting characteristics of our much-loved British birds and wildlife.”

She continues: “With clear instructions, detailed demonstrations and expert tips developed from years of teaching, this book is designed to help you grow with confidence at any stage of your creative journey.

“Inside the book, you’ll discover 15 newly created linocut prints celebrating British birds and wildlife, alongside a selection of much-loved favourites. Each print is inspired by wildlife which visits my own garden and memorable encounters on countryside walks.”

Michelle grew up making things, sewing, not least crafting, and creating her own clothes, then studied for an ND in Design at Mid-Warwickshire College of Further Education, Leamington Spa, from 1987 to 1989 and an HND in Fashion Design at Southampton Solent University from 1989 to 1991.

After  25 years of designing fashion, textiles and homeware for major high-street brands, a fourth redundancy in 2016 gave her the space to experiment and play with linocut printmaking, becoming a self-taught printmaker. 

She now exhibits at open studios and print fairs, works on commissions, including for the National Trust, and has taught more than 1,000 students worldwide through small group workshops in her print studio since July 2017 and online linocut courses since the Covid pandemic of 2020-2021.

“My creative process starts with photographs taken while walking and cycling,” she says. “I then transform landscapes and wildlife into simplified graphic shapes, applying a limited colour palette. I create limited-edition prints using the multi-block linocut method, hand-carving lino blocks for each colour and printing with oil-based inks.”

Michelle will be demonstrating that technique when participating in York Open Studios 2026 at 67, St Swithin’s Walk on April 18 and 19, when 150 artists and makers will be taking part at 107 venues, including 27 new artists in the 24th year of the annual art festival. Full details can be found at https://yorkopenstudios.co.uk/artists-makers/.

Michelle’s book will be on sale at York Open Studios, where once more she will be signing copies.

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REVIEW: York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, until Saturday ****

Child’s play: Mark Simmonds’ Willie impersonating a bomber plane in Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade in Scarborough, is making her Settlement Players directorial debut with Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama.

She brings together actors very familiar to York audiences (Mark Simmonds, Victoria Delaney, Jess Murray), three from York Theatre Royal’s 2025 community play, His Last Report (Andrew Wrenn, Jon Cook and Thom Feeney) and one who moved to York only four months ago (Rich Wareham).

Each is playing a seven-year-old child on a hot summer’s day in the Forest of Dean in wartime 1943, where their child’s play in the woods mimics and mirrors the adult world at war, whether Simmonds’ Willie dive-bombing like a war plane or impersonating the bogeyman figure of an escaped Italian prisoner of war from a nearby camp.

Jess Murray’s Audrey, left, and Victoria Delaney’s Angela in Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

Each is pictured in their programme profile aged seven – the director included – whether with big glasses, bigger teeth, white hair band, a giant Rupert Bear, an apple-cheeked cheeky grin or reading a comic.

No pictorial aid, however, is needed to see their transformation into Potter’s West Country boys and girls, one achieved through movement, mannerism, voice and Judith Ireland’s typically exemplary wardrobe, from the boys’ 1940s’ tank tops and baggy shorts to Murray’s Audrey in dungarees and Delaney’s Angela, forever pushing a pram and carrying a dolly, in cornfield yellow party dress and matching bows in her hair.

Simmonds and Wareham retain full beards but the boy inside emerges through the bristle thicket. Richard Hampton’s set design could be a child’s primitive drawing: to one side, barn doors with a milk churn, pail and straw bale inside; to the other, a painterly tree; in the centre, an expanse of grass, all seen as if through the children’s perspective.

All eyes are on Andrew Wrenn’s John, left, as Jon Cook’s Raymond, Victoria Delaney’s Angela, Mark Simmonds’ Willie, Rich Wareham’s Peter and Jess Murray’s Audrey look on. Picture: John Saunders

As sage ancient Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle proclaimed: “Give a me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.” In turn, Potter will show you both the man and the woman, and the inner child within both, as he “takes you back to your own childhoods, the laughter, the fun,  the freedom, but also the heartache and pain”.

That heartache and pain is expressed in the absence of fathers, away on war duty, both in tears and the boastful my-dad’s better/bigger/smarter/more important-than-yours fisticuffs of Wareham’s Peter and Wrenn’s John, and in the teasing of Feeney’s loner Donald “Duck”, hiding away, playing on his own in the barn.

There is machismo menace beneath the surface, much like in William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies, as adult traits are forged in the children’s pecking order that finds Cook’s kindly, gentle Raymond always playing second or, rather, fourth fiddle to ringleader  Peter, John  and Willie. 

Victoria Delaney’s Angela and Thom Feeney’s Donald “Duck”

Or fifth fiddle, if you were to include the never-seen but respected leader Wallace Wilson. The girls, meanwhile, don’t compete for such roles, Murray’s Audrey fitting in as a tomboy and Delaney’s Angela as an aspirational mother in the making.   

Hebditch asked her actors not only to connect with their inner child (Delaney incidentally first trod the Theatre Royal boards aged eight), but also to “focus on instinct rather than intellectual consequences”.  Good advice that bears fruit in performances that capture how “emotions flit in the blink of an eye” and “relish in the pure emotions of children”.

Performances are suitably individual too yet collectively excellent, full of the freedom to play like children in Rowntree Park, yet darkened by the claustrophobic shadow of war, even amid the bucolic beauty of the woods.

Blue Remembered Hills director Fleur Hebditch

Like Donald, Hebditch lights a match under Potter’s play, then watches it catch fire and burn with increasingly fierce heat.

As the children blame each other, then exonerate themselves of any guilt – it was ever thus in the slithering grown-up world too – an adult voice reads from A E Housman’s poem that gave Potter’s play its title with its account of the happy highways making way for the land of lost content.

The play makes that very same journey, from fun to fear, from afternoon tease to sucker punch, from innocence to experience, all too quickly to need an interval. Short, and sharp as Willie’s cooking apple, Blue Remembered Hills still shocks.

York Settlement Community Players, Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 28, 7.45pm nightly, resuming Tuesday to Saturday, plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Fisticuffs: Andrew Wrenn’s John, left, clashes Rich Wareham’s bully Peter as Victoria Delaney’s Angela and Jess Murray’s Audrey egg them on. Picture: John Saunders

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Opera North, Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage Of Figaro), Leeds Grand Theatre, opening night, January 30

Hera Hyesang Park as Susanna in Opera North’s The Marriage Of Figaro at Leeds Grand Theatre

IT was odd that in an updated version of Figaro, ostensibly set in an English country house, Opera North should choose to perform the work in Italian for the first time in the Leeds company’s nearly half-century of existence.

Not least because this show would have benefited from the variety of defining accents and characters the English class system can offer.

Louisa Muller’s production took a safer option. Her valuation of the overture’s musical worth permitted her to unleash all her principals as they returned from a rural ride to hang up their clothes in a boot room, hardly the most inviting quarters for Figaro and his bride. So much for the pre-wedding ‘scene painting’ the programme encouraged us to hear in the overture.

However, Madeleine Boyd’s set offered a view through to a fine staircase behind, down which trooped tourists and guides, which aptly summarised the Count’s financial needs along with the buckets catching the drips.

James Newby’s Count in Opera North’s The Marriage Of Figaro. Picture: Tristram Kenton

Muller also gave us a pregnant Countess preparing crib and layette for the happy event, which maybe helped to explain her husband’s more than usually roving eye. That was part of a cleverly split stage, with the Count simultaneously in his billiard room.

Act 4 took place in the stables, with plenty of fresh straw bedding to encourage a roll in the hay (especially with so few signs of any horses); Malcom Ripperth’s lighting lent clarity to the shenanigans.

The concept may have grated occasionally, but there was no denying the flair throughout the cast, only four of whom had ever graced this stage before. Muller, too, was a newcomer to Leeds but melded them into a considerable team.

The brightest star in this constellation was Hera Hyesang Park’s energetic Susanna, a dynamo whose acting and singing were in ideal harness. One might have wished that she had not protested quite so much at Figaro’s hug with Marcellina over his parentage, although it chimed with her personality.

Gabriella Reyes’s Countess Almaviva in Opera North’s The Marriage Of Figaro. Picture: Tristram Kenton

Her charismatic Figaro was Liam James Karai, his strongly focused baritone often laced with a laugh. James Newby’s Count covered the ground well but needed to exert more authority, more gravitas from the start: his downfall was too predictable.

Gabriella Reyes, his Countess, found creamy legato in her arias to match her gracious presence. Hongni Wu lacked enough chest tone or boyishness for Cherubino, although not for want of trying. Jonathan Lemalu and Katherine Broderick were warmly well matched as seen-it-all-before Bartolo and Marcellina, with Daniel Norman a sprightly Basilio.

Jamie Woollard’s disgruntled beekeeper Antonio, Charlotte Bowden’s charming Barbarina and Kamil Bien’s thwarted Curzio all made the most of their roles: Muller certainly had an eye for detail.

Valentina Peleggi started the overture at such lightning pace that even this orchestra’s much-vaunted violins were caught slightly off guard. But they settled quickly and there was much stylishness to savour.

First-night adrenaline was doubtless to blame for the finale getting a touch out of kilter. The chorus’s enjoyment was infectious: they especially relished Rebecca Howell’s amusing choreography for the wedding dance. It was an exciting and excitable evening that just needed to settle down.

Review by Martin Dreyer

Hera Hyesang Park as Susanna and Liam James Karai as Figaro in Opera North’s The Marriage Of Figaro. Picture: Tristram Kenton
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REVIEW: York Guildhall Orchestra, York Barbican, February 8

Clarinet soloist Julian Bliss

SUNDAY afternoons with the Guildhall have in a short time become a much-loved feature of York’s musical landscape. A Mozart overture, a Weber concerto and a Mahler symphony offered something for everyone here.

You can tell a lot about a musical organisation’s view of itself by the calibre of soloists it invites. In Julian Bliss they had a clarinettist who was more than a match for the taxing demands of Weber’s Second Clarinet Concerto in E flat.

All but one of his solo clarinet works were composed for Heinrich Baermann, a pioneer in the field and principal with the Munich Court Orchestra: they rank amongst the instrument’s most important repertory.

Bliss launched into the opening runs with panache, but managed to include echo effects and even a distinctive tremolo in the clarinet’s chalumeau register, its lowest octave. A couple of top notes verged on the shrill, laid down skilfully head-to-toe with much lower ones.

Weber’s slow movement, a Romanza, attempts to introduce an elegiac tone, not entirely successfully, but Bliss delivered it with smooth legato, which enabled satisfying contrast with the outer movements. The closing polonaise, virtually a rondo, was delightfully crisp, superbly articulated. All the while the orchestra danced in close attendance, providing a feather-bed underlay.

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, in C sharp minor, is widely considered a journey from bleak darkness and tragedy towards reassurance and light, although the composer himself vowed that its three parts had no programme as such. Nevertheless this account had that feeling.

The opening Funeral March was made the more stately by the low trumpet, and the frenetic storm that followed, heralded by shrieks in the winds, was enhanced by the six gritty horns.

Thereafter, Mahler leans on them heavily. The concertante solo horn role in the Scherzo was nobly handled by Janus Wadsworth. The movement grew edgier as it progressed and the acceleration into its coda was undeniably exciting.

It was good to hear the Adagietto, so often heard on its own, in proper context. Here some ethereal violin phrasing imparted an air of numinous spirituality, despite its more earthbound central passage.

The closing rondo, the most intricate movement Mahler ever wrote, was rhythmically incisive, an immense aid to clarity. Especially enjoyable was the way the overlapping fanfares came together in the brass chorale, before the triumphant finale for which Wright had kept something in reserve.

The evening had opened with Mozart’s overture to The Impresario. The strings overcame some early sluggishness to deliver fine counterpoint. It conjured anticipation for the larger works to follow.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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2026 JORVIK Viking Festival ends in the sunlight after drawing 50,000 visitors

Battle lines are drawn at the Eye of York at the 2026 JORVIK Viking Festival. Picture: Jonathan Pow 

THE Norse weather gods looked favourably on the Vikings of York as weeks of rain broke to keep the 2026 JORVIK Viking Festival dry and even sunny.

From January 16 to 22, thousands of visitors descended on the city, where 50,000 people joined in the fun, from the encampment to the spectacular March to Coppergate, a parade of around 450 Vikings.

“This has really been an epic year for JORVIK Viking Festival, with the vast majority of the events sold out before the festival even opened, and really good crowds turning out to enjoy all the free activities and displays we have hosted” said Mark Jackson, head of operations for York Archaeology, the festival organisers.

Despite gloomy forecasts, the rain held off all day last Saturday(21/2/2026) for the large-scale events taking place at the Eye of York. 

From the young warriors-in-training who opened the day with the Kids Barbaric Battle, to the full-grown Viking combatants taking on four rounds of combat in the Battle Spectacular, climaxing with a pyrotechnic display, the public experienced the ferocious side of the Viking invaders.

“The March to Coppergate seemed particularly well supported, with people lining both side of the street the whole way from Dean’s Park to Coppergate, cheering on the marching Vikings as they passed,” said Mark. 

“Indeed, the living history encampment in Parliament Street was packed all week, with the wood turning, blacksmithing and tattooing proving exceptionally popular.  

“It is brilliant to see so many people engaging with this fascinating period in York’s history, and learning a little about how our 10th-century ancestors would have lived.”

On the festival’s closing day (22/2/2026), 10th-century traders traded at Merchant Adventurers’ Hall; children crafted at Barley Hall, and Poo week concluded at DIG on St Saviourgate.  A Fringe event, the Jorvik Tattoo Moot, continued at Merchant Taylors’ Hall and Bedern Hall for those wanting a permanent souvenir of their festival visit. 

The festival finale coincided with the final evening of York BID’s Colour & Light installation at the Eye of York, which told the story of York’s villains and legends through Double Take Projections’ projection on the Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower, where a familiar Viking name – Eric Bloodaxe – put in an appearance.

JORVIK Viking Festival coincided with the traditional Viking end of winter, when the seasonal makeover at JORVIK Viking Centre, covering the re-creation of Viking-age Coppergate with a thick blanket of snow for A Winter Adventure, concluded too.

JORVIK will close today for “the great thaw”, reopening on Tuesday with the street scenes reverting to their usual spring setting of a May afternoon in the year AD960.

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REVIEW: Kathryn Williams, Mystery Park, Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, Feb 20 ****

Kathryn Williams: Taking a late change of support and special guest in her stride at Pocklington Arts Centre

WEDNESDAY broke with the news that guitarist Matt Deighton, support and special guest on the first leg of Kathryn Williams’s Mystery Park Tour last autumn, would not be available for the second. All the shingles’ Hades, poor lad, had come his way. Get well soon.

Opening night in Pocklington was only two days away. Crumbs. Here’s where the rules of six degrees of separation came into play. Liverpool-born Kath and West of Scotland guitarist Memphis Gerald – so called after someone misheard his real name of Ben Fitzgerald – both live in Newcastle but had never met on the folk circuit.

However, they share a mutual friend in Louis Abbott of Glaswegian folkies Admiral Fallow, who put Kath in touch with Memphis. A few emails later to rearrange his diary, and Memphis was on board for Kath’s travels.

Three hours of rehearsals on Thursday introduced Kath to Memphis and Memphis to her songs, whose guitar parts he was still practising studiously in the still chill of night until 4am, nevertheless grateful to be “thrown onto this bill at the very last minute”.

 “I can’t believe I met you only yesterday,” he would say to Kath between songs as they settled into their Pocklington groove. “I don’t think I could have learned these songs so quickly if they weren’t so gorgeous.”

Memphis had opened the show beneath his peaked cap with a solo set in the low light of three chintzy lampshades brought to Pock by Kath in the tour van driven by best friend Sarah Williams (who will be doing sterling work on the merch stall each night too).

His lyric “Flowers don’t decide where they grow from” caught the ear early on,  and the politest protest song ever to grace these isles, We Will Die On This Hill, stood out with its celebration of the Right To Roam protestors’ UK Supreme Court triumph over their Dartmoor landlords, Alexander and Diana Darwall, in May 2025.

Memphis, by the way, has felt emboldened to send the ramblers his song; let’s hope they now sing it lustily as they ramble on, like Led Zeppelin were once wont to do.

Fuelled by a visit to Atlas, Pocklington’s artisan sourdough bakery and cafe in St Peter’s Square,  Kath took to the stage where she had first played 25 years ago and had performed too when pregnant with son Ted (now present in long-haired teenage form in Friday’s audience with his shared love of music, especially T Rex and Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker).

As the tour title indicated, Kath concentrated her set on last September’s Mystery Park, her 18th album (if you include collaborations) in a career launched with cassette tapes at early gigs and her 1989 debut Dog Leap Stairs, made for £80.

For all her collaborations with Paul Weller, Ed Harcourt, Polly Paulusma, Dame Carol Ann Duffy, Neil MacColl, Withered Hand’s Dan Wilson, Beth Nielsen Chapman and The Pond, her 12 years of hosting songwriting retreats for the Arvon Foundation, her bed-themed podcast Before The Light Goes Out, her 2021 novel The Ormering Tide and her art exhibitions at Start-Yard, Birkenhead and the Biscuit Factory (from May 8), there is still a delightfully cottage industry vibe to polymath Kath.  

After all these years, her performance demeanour remains natural, at times almost apologetic, not afraid to fluff a guitar line, to consult her notes when setting up her Mellotron, or to make light of a request to adjust its M-shaped light to pink after its white brightness had dazzled one front-row occupant.

Kath loves a joke, a wry observation, a conspiratorial quip, a local reference or two, putting everyone at ease when faced both by Pocklington’s notoriously quietly appreciative audience and the first-night bedding-in of an admirably unflustered Memphis.

“I have a hole in my lip…I always drip,” she said with disarming rhyming candour. “It’s humbling when someone who’s played your songs for a day knows them better than you do,” she admitted after one sudden stop.

Turning 52 on Monday this week, Kath is now writing her most personal songs, rooted in motherhood and memory. “I think this album, more than anything, is a reflection of where I am in my life,” she told CharlesHutchPress in this week’s interview.

“A lot of songs on my other albums are works of imagination, flights of fancy, with fragments of what I’ve been doing. But this one places me on the bridge between parents getting older and kids getting older, and feeling that pull both ways.”

Alongside such high points as Goodbye To Summer, Gossamer Wings – co-written with “a young man who really needs your support, Paul Weller” – and a Big Thief cover, at the core of Friday’s set were three family reflections. Firstly, Sea Of Shadows, with its time-travelling account of eldest son Louis growing up in a story built around a sheriff’s star.

Next, This Mystery, a beautifully tender response to her father’s dementia and Parkinson’s Disease, in part inspired by the sight of a lorry driving over a vinyl record, smashing into fragments like dementia’s impact on our minds. “Well, that’s the happy songs over,” she deadpanned.

Lastly, Servant  Of The Flame, for son Ted, with his love of playing computer games again and again, as she watched by his side, a line Kath repeated over and again as she pulled away from the microphone, until falling silent, just as Ted would  fall into slumber.  

Yes, these songs are personal, but they have that quality that Kath cherishes above all others in concert: connectivity.

She will remember Pocklington, February 20 2026 as “the night of the floppy plectrum” (when replacing a harder one that she gave to an audience member”, but also as the night when another commented the gig had made her “very happy”.

“I hope to see you in another 25 years,” Kath said at the close. “Hopefully they’ll have put some stair lifts in.”

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More Things To Do in York & beyond as greatest showman shows up & abbey lights up. Hutch’s List No. 7, from The York Press

Child’s play: Andrew Renn, Jon Cook and Jess Murray, back row, with Mark Simmonds and Victoria Delaney in York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

FROM Dennis Potter to Stephen Sondheim, showman  P.T. Barnum to Selby Abbey’s light installation, Charles Hutchinson is spoilt for cultural choice.

Play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 28, 7.45pm nightly, except Sunday and Monday, plus 2pm Saturday matinees

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade, makes her Settlement Players directorial debut with Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama.

Seven children are playing in the Forest of Dean countryside on a hot summer’s day in 1943. Each aged seven, they mimic and reflect the adult world at war around them, but their innocence is short lived as reality hits. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Cole Stacey’s social media posting for his Rise@Bluebird Bakery gig

Folk gig of the week: Cole Stacey, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York tonight, doors 7.30pm

VISCERAL singer-songwriter Cole Stacey weaves together British folk, 1980s’ pop, spoken word and ambient electronics, as heard on last February’s debut album with its symbiosis of “lost” places and forgotten words, stretching back to the 13th century, paired with his lyrical songwriting and field recordings.

“I’d like to invite you to come along with me on the next chapter as I head out to share Postcards From Lost Places in some unique and inspiring settings, beginning in York tonight,” says Stacey. “I loved my time and bread last year playing at Bluebird Bakery, so I’m very delighted to be invited back for an intimate gig in their fully working bakery. It’s a special setting and one I’m thoroughly looking forward to!” Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk.

Dnipro Opera in Carmen, on tour at York Barbican

Opera of the week: Dnipro Opera (Ukrainian National Opera) in Carmen, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Dnipro Opera, from Ukraine, performs Georges Bizet’s Carmen in French with English surtitles, accompanied by an orchestra numbering more than 30 musicians. 

Feel the thrill of fiery passion, jealousy, and violence of 19th century Seville in Carmen’s story of the downfall of naive soldier Don José,  who falls head over heels in love with seductive, free-spirited femme fatale Carmen. Whereupon he abandons his childhood sweetheart and neglects his military duties, only to lose the fickle Carmen to the glamorous toreador Escamillo. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Showman extraordinaire: Lee Mead’s P. T. Barnum in Barnum: The Circus Musical at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

Touring musical of the week: Bill Kenwright Ltd in Barnum: The Circus Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

MUSICALS leading man Lee Mead plays the most challenging role of his career, stepping into P. T. Barnum’s shoes and on to the tightrope as the legendary circus showman, businessman and politician in Jonathan O’Boyle’s touring production of the Broadway musical.

Mead leads the cast of more than 20 actor-musicians (playing 150 instruments), acrobats and international circus acts as, hand in hand with wife Charity, Barnum finds his life and career twisting and turning the more he schemes and dreams his way to headier heights. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Alexandra Mather’s Anne Egerman and Jason Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman in rehearsal for Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music

Sondheim show of the week: Wharfemede Productions in A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

SET in turn-of-the-20th century Sweden, A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of love, desire, and regret through Stephen Sondheim’s signature blend of sophistication, humour and hauntingly beautiful music, not least the timeless Send In The Clowns.

Directed by Helen “Bells” Spencer, Wharfemede Productions’ show combines the North Yorkshire company’s hallmark attention to emotional depth, musical high quality and character-driven ensemble storytelling. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Disney In Concert: The Sound Of Magic, celebrating music from Walt Disney’s animated films at York Barbican

Movie music of the week: Disney In Concert: The Sound Of Magic, York Barbican, February 25, 7.30pm

THE Novello Orchestra’s Disney In Concert: The Sound Of Magic performance is a symphonic celebration of Disney music, animation and memories, a century in the making, under the direction of creative director Amy Tinkham, music director Giles Martin and arranger and orchestrator Ben Foster. 

Favourite characters and music from across the Walt Disney Animation Studios catalogue come to life on the concert hall stage and screen in new medleys and suites on a magic carpet ride through Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Moana, Alice In Wonderland, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Frozen, The Lion King, Fantasia, Encanto, Beauty And The Beast and more. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Homeward bound for Selby Abbey: Imitating The Dog’s large-scale installation

Installation of the week: Selby Light 2026, Selby Abbey, February 26 to 28, 6pm to 9pm

SELBY Abbey will be the setting for Homeward, Leeds company Imitating The Dog’s  large-scale installation celebrating our different stories and the unified feeling of finding home, framed by the question How Did You Get Here?

Inside, the installation continues as a walk-through experience, complemented by Jazmin Morris’s Through The Liquid Crystal Display, a series of visual code illustrations inspired by Selby Abbey. The trail then extends into the town centre with works by Selby College students. Admission is free.

Phoenix Dance Theatre in Interplay: World premiere opens at York Theatre Royal next Friday and Saturday. Picture: Drew Forsyth

Dance show of the week: Phoenix Dance Theatre, Interplay, York Theatre Royal, February 27, 7.30pm; February 28, 2pm, 7.30pm

LEEDS company Phoenix Dance Theatre’s world premiere tour of Interplay opens at York Theatre Royal next Friday and Saturday, featuring dynamic works by Travis Knight and James Pett (Small Talk), Ed Myhill (Why Are People Clapping?!), Yusha-Marie Sorzano & Phoenix artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis (Suite Release) and Willis’s Next Of Kin. 

Across duet and ensemble works, Interplay explores themes of duality and shared authorship, revealing how distinct artistic voices can intersect to create something greater than the sum of their parts. Each piece offers a unique perspective, united by a bold physicality and a deep curiosity about human relationships, rhythm and collective experience. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Levellers: Levelling The Land anew at York Barbican this autumn

Gig announcement of the week: Levellers, York Barbican, October 29

BRIGHTON folk-rockers Levellers have been among Britain’s most enduring and best-loved bands for nearly 40 years, their success in part built on the anthems that comprised their platinum-selling second album Levelling The Land, whose 35th anniversary falls on October 7.

To mark the occasion, Levellers will head out on a UK and European tour from October 16 to November 21, playing many songs from that album, alongside fan favourites from their extensive catalogue. Hotly tipped Essex punk duo The Meffs will support. Box office: https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/levellers-2026/.

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Alanis Morissette to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on July 5 as 28th signing for biggest line-up yet on Yorkshire coast

And isn’t she iconic: Seven-time Grammy winner Alanis Morissette heads to Yorkshire coast this summer. Picture: Shelby Duncan

ALANIS Morissette is the 28th and final headliner to be announced for Scarborough Open Air Theatre’s 2026 summer season.

The seven-time Grammy Award winner will play on the Yorkshire coast on Sunday, July 5 on the last night of the Canadian-American alt-rock singer-songwriter’s seven-date UK tour.

Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday, February 27 at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.  

After signing up Morissette to complete Scarborough OAT’s biggest ever concert season, Julian Murray, of promoters Cuffe and Taylor, said: “We are absolutely delighted to reveal Alanis Morissette as our 28th and final headliner for 2026. What a massive name to add to the bill for our already record-breaking summer here in Scarborough.

“Alanis is a cultural phenomenon. Her shows are huge and we now get to welcome her to the Yorkshire coast. This will be an incredible night in what will be a sensational summer here at Scarborough OAT.”

Her Grammy-garlanded 1995 debut album Jagged Little Pill has been followed by nine albums, and her hits Ironic, You Oughta Know, Hand in My Pocket and Thank U remain as current as ever today.

 In 2019, Jagged Little Pill The Musical made its Broadway debut and was nominated for 15 Tony Awards, winning two at the 2021 ceremony.

In 2021, Morissette’s sold-out world tour was the number one female-fronted tour of the year. Her 2024 North American Triple Moon Tour sold more than half a million tickets and packed every venue to capacity, followed by her sold-out 2025 UK tour and first ever Pyramid Stage set at Glastonbury.

The poster for Alanis Morissette’s July 5 gig at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

TK MAXX PRESENTS SCARBOROUGH OPEN AIR THEATRE 2026: the full line up    

JUNE 5, Rick Astley and Lottery Winners                  

JUNE 6, Madness plus Hollie Cook and The Beat featuring Ranking Jnr

JUNE 12, Paul Weller

JUNE 18, The Kooks

JUNE 20, Skunk Anansie and Garbage

JUNE 21, Anastacia and Heather Small

JUNE 26, Pete Tong Ibiza Classics and Danny Rampling

JUNE 27, Richard Ashcroft, Tom Meighan and Apollo Junction

JUNE 28, Billy Ocean and Marti Pellow

JULY 2, Bowling For Soup and Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls

JULY 3, James Arthur

JULY 4, David Gray and The Divine Comedy

JULY 5, Alanis Morissette

JULY 6, Michael Bublé

JULY 10, Deacon Blue and Lightning Seeds

JULY 11, Bastille and Nectar Wood

JULY 17, Alex James’s Britpop Classical

JULY 18, CMAT

JULY 22, Teddy Swims and Jordan Rakei

JULY 23, Teddy Swims and Jordan Rakei

JULY 25, James Taylor & His All-Star Band

JULY 26, Tom Jones and Stone Foundation

AUGUST 1, The Streets

AUGUST 2, Sex Pistols, The Stranglers and The Undertones

AUGUST 8, Scissor Sisters                 

AUGUST 14, Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17

AUGUST 15, Hollywood Vampires (featuring Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry) and The Damned

AUGUST 22, Nile Rodgers & CHIC and Brand New Heavies

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REVIEW: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, and on tour *****

Jodie Comer’s defence lawyer Tessa Ensler in Prima Facie. Picture: Rankin

YOU won’t see a better performance in York this year, but chances are, you won’t see it, as all eight shows sold out within 20 minutes of general sales opening 11 months ago.

Killing Eve star Jodie Comer is completing her Prima Facie journey with a nine-city tour, revisiting the remarkable role that brought her both Olivier Award and Tony Award success in Australian lawyer-turned-playwright Suzie Miller’s solo play.

The Grand Opera House last had such a pre-show buzz when Six The Musical played York for the first time in October 2022, building all the more for Wednesday night’s 7.30pm start as the clock ticked towards 7.45pm.

Then, suddenly, the pre-show music desisted, and there was Comer’s defence lawyer Tessa Ensler, atop a table, frozen for the only moment in silhouette on Miriam Buether’s set of row upon row of case-note files. For the next 100 minutes, she will not stop, draw breath, save for the only costume not conducted on stage, when a drenching in the rain necessitates an exit, also allowing the plotline to move forward 1,016 days.

Comer does everything, and I do mean everything, not only voicing every character in the reportage style of Miller’s writing, but even turning the tables physically as the tables turn on her metaphorically in an adrenalised shock of a performance as Miller’s Prima Facie  “takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game”.  

That game is the game of law, where the playing pitch is the courtroom and Comer’s Tessa is the working-class Liverpool lass-turned-Cambridge-educated defence lawyer hotshot, showing off her case-winning skills to a percussive beat in a razzle-dazzle opening to Justin Martin’s searing production that could swap the wig and gown for top hat and tails.

We learn that a defence lawyer’s modus operandi has one over-riding rule: “It’s not what you know; it’s what you don’t know,” Tessa says. As in, not knowing whether the defendant did in fact commit the crime.

We learn too that in a world where we now have the Donald Trump-trademarked “alternative truth”, as well as half truths, lies, damned lies and statistics, we have “legal truth”. Not “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” of the oath to be taken on the Bible when entering the dock or witness box, but what constitutes the truth in law. A kind of law unto itself.

In a nutshell, Comer’s Tessa goes from defending the defendant at all costs to being put through the prosecution grilling herself after she is sexually assaulted. You forget you are a watching a play; you are living every moment, as Tessa is.

 A barrister is often compared with an actor, with the need to perform, to express skill at delivery of lines, supplemented by a keen sense of the moment, and above all the ability to move an audience/jury. Here, in Comer’s hands, the two fuse into one, her performance so complete that I hesitate to call it a performance.

And yet, of course, it is: acting of the highest quality, a tour-de-force feat of movement and memory and emotion, of initial humour, then horror, steely resolve and despair, a woman operating in what is still a man’s world, where the jury numbers eight men to four women, and the defendant has all his braying buddies in the gallery. 

No wonder, this tour carries the tagline  “Something Has To Change”, a sentiment topped off by 1 In 3 (I’m Fine), the climactic song of the startling soundtrack by Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor .

Your reviewer – and yes, I did pay for a prime stalls seat, in the absence of press tickets – has not seen such furious, relentless female intensity since Diana Rigg in Medea in more than 40 years of reviewing.

Prima Facie is a Greek tragedy for today, and on her return to a North Yorkshire stage for the first time since her professional debut as spoilt, mouthy but bright Ruby in the Stephen Joseph Theatre world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything in November 2010, Jodie Comer affirms she is a talent for the ages.  

Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 3pm and 7.30pm. SOLD OUT.

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Wharfemede Productions to waltz its way into Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Theatre@41 from February 24 to 28

Sanna Jeppsson’s Countess Charlotte Malcolm, left, Jason Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman and Alexandra Mather’s Anne Egerman in Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music

NORTH Yorkshire theatre company Wharfemede Productions follows up 2025’s Little Women and Musical Across The Multiverse revue with Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, next week.

Director and company co-founder Helen “Bells” Spencer says: “Sondheim has always been one of my favourite musical theatre writers. His work captures the full spectrum of the human experience; messy, beautiful and deeply relatable.

“What I find most inspiring is how his music doesn’t simply accompany the story; it drives it. Every note, rhythm and lyric reflects the emotional journey of the characters in a way that is both intricate and profoundly moving.”

Continuing to build its reputation for delivering high-quality, character-driven musical theatre, Wharfemede Productions brings together talent from across Yorkshire to present Sondheim’s witty, romantic and elegantly crafted 1973 musical.

Fan fare: Jason Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman and Alexandra Mather’s Anne Egerman in a scene from A Little Night Music

“Directing A Little Night Music has long been a dream of mine, and I’m thrilled to bring it to life with such an exceptional company,” says Bells, who will play Desiree Armfeldt, alongside Alexandra Mather as Anne Egerman, fresh from her outstanding Christmas performance as nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes.

In the company too will be Jason Weightman as Fredrick Egerman, James Pegg as Henrik Egerman,  Maggie Smales as Madame Armfeldt, Libby Greenhill as Fredrika Armfeldt, Nick Sephton as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm and Sanna Jeppsson as Countess Charlotte Malcolm.

Completing the cast will be Katie Brier’s Petra, Chris Gibson’s Frid, soprano Emma Burke’s Mrs Nordstrom, soprano Hannah Thomson’s Mrs Anderssen, mezzo-soprano Rachel Merry’s Mrs Segstrom, tenor Matthew Oglesby’s Mr Erlansson and baritone Richard Pascoe’s Mr Lindquist.

“We’re drawing together an incredible mix of Yorkshire talent, particularly from York and Leeds, including actors I worked with in Les Miserables at Leeds Grand Theatre last year, and the chemistry within this cast is something truly special,” says Bells.

The Quintet in Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music: Emma Burke, left, Richard Pascoe, Rachel Merry, Matthew Oglesby and Hannah Thomson. Picture: Matthew Warry

Joining her in the production team are musical director James Robert Ball, choreographer Rachel Merry and wardrobe mistress Suzanne Perkins. “It was so important to me to have a musical director who not only shares a passion for Sondheim’s music but also understands how to shape the dramatic journey alongside me,” says Bells.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be working with James, whose knowledge, enthusiasm and expertise in Sondheim’s work are second to none. A true Sondheim super-fan, academic and all-round expert, James is breathing such magic into this incredible score and as an assistant director.

“He is a joy to work with and has an extraordinary gift for bringing out the very best in the people around him, both musically and creatively.”

Set in turn-of-the-20th century Sweden, A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of love, desire and regret through Sondheim’s signature blend of sophistication, humour and hauntingly beautiful music, topped off by the timeless Send In The Clowns.

A directorial flash of inspiration for Helen “Bells” Spencer as she rehearses her role as Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music

“A Little Night Music is a lot of people’s favourite Sondheim work – and a lot of cast members have said that too,” says Bells.

“You introduced me to it when Opera North did it in Leeds,” recalls company co-founder Nick. “Yes, I made Nick go and see it!” rejoins Bells.

“I really wanted to do this show, because I think it’s one of Sondheim’s most accessible musicals. It’s more classical in style, taking its inspiration from Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The very clever thing about it, and the very unusual thing too, is that apart from a few bars, it’s written in triple time (3/4 time), which is very rare, particularly in musicals.

“The show is made up predominantly of triangles of love interests, and therefore it reflects those tangled trios in the musical structure, while also reflecting wealthy family life and their servants at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century in Sweden.”

Maggie Smales’s Madame Armfeldt makes her point to Libby Greenhill’s Fredrika Armfeldt

Crucial to the structure too is Sondheim’s use of The Quintet, alias the Liebeslieder Singers, here comprising Burke, Merry, Thomson, Oglesby and Pascoe. “They act like a Greek chorus, and they’ve been represented in very different ways in various versions of the show, but I was really clear when I started that I wanted them to do more than just come on and do their pieces,” says Bells.

“I was really keen for them to be more integral to the plot and the structure, so I wanted them to feel they were part of the decision-making about who The Quintet were. Right at the beginning, I gave them materials about Greek choruses and how they worked in theatre.

“I also researched Swedish folklore, in particular Freya, the goddess of love, beauty, fertility and sex. We then had a few rehearsals where the quintet decided who they should be, and while not wanting to spoil it for anyone, I can say that essentially they’re the driving force of our show. They’re  in control; they can change things as an agent of fate, an agent of Freya.”

Bells continues: “They are in no way an ensemble. They are exceptional, doing the most difficult singing in the show, and they’re so on top of it. It’s so good to have such a strong quintet, and I’m really excited for audiences to see what we’ve done with the concept.

James Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman, left, and James Pegg’s Henrik Egerman raising eyebrows as well as glasses in A Little Night Music

“When the quintet is on stage, the lighting will be set for night-time, very ethereal, so it’ll be mysterious and nocturnal, and we will go in and out of that state, depending on the scene.”

Looking forward to a waltzing week ahead, Bells concludes: “Promising emotional depth, musical excellence and ensemble storytelling, Wharfemede Productions invites audiences to experience an evening of charm, laughter and lyrical brilliance, further cementing its place as one of Yorkshire’s most exciting rising theatre companies.”

Wharfemede Productions presents A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Wharfemede Productions: back story

CO-FOUNDED in 2024 by Helen “Bells” Spencer, chief artistic director, and Nick Sephton, chief operating officer, the company is dedicated to bringing high-quality musical productions and events to Yorkshire, with respect and openness at the heart of their artistic philosophy.

After gaining a Drama degree from Manchester University, Bells co-founded and company-managed Envision Theatre Company, and now Wharfemede marks a return to those roots. Drawing on decades of logistics, managerial and computing experience, Nick uses these skills in Wharfemede’s work, combined with his love for music and theatre.

Wharfemede Productions’ poster for A Little Night Music at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York